Nero Angelo
by Colonel Karl L Schubaltz
Summary: **R for language and adult situations** Leon paves the way for an assassin to take his mark... (Leon/Karl)
1. Bloody Angel

  
  
  


**Nero Angelo**  
_Part One_  
Written by _Colonel Karl L Schubaltz_

  
  
  
  
Rants from a Pissed-Off Imperial Colonel: _Another Leon/Karl ficcie, but it's dealing more with Chaotic Century than Guardian Force or hereafter. Leon is still a Lieutenant and Karl's second right-hand man at this point. I had toyed with the idea of giving Leon a personal zoid, but thinking anything LESS than a Berserk Fury and a Death Stinger is dummying Leon down big time. And even the Berserk Fury and Death Stinger is still kinda dummying him down a bit. I **KNOW** that the Berserk Fury is only found in New Century Zero and Hilz has the only known Death Stinger, but come on, people.... nothing is truly ever written in stone, not in my stories anyway... except Leon/Karl, Karl/Thomas, Hermann/O'Connell and the plain and undisputable fact that Leon **IS** the most powerful being in the known universe. Do not flame me or bitch me out because **'Gasp! Leon has a Berserk Fury! Or a Death Stinger!! SACRILEGE!!!' I KNOW THE FUCKING STORY, PEOPLE!!! I AM NOT FUCKING DUMB!!!** But you tell me, how the fuck you stuff a God in a tin can and get it to the shit he does without restraint and whatnot if you are not happy with what I gave him. If you can tell me this, then padawan, you truly can read minds... so don't fucking say anything about anything here, dipshits! I know how anal people get on the notion that something is brought in from another dimension or place and it fucks things up in their perfect little universe, well, their universe is NOT mine! So fuck off!!! Suddenly I supernaturally channeled Ozzy Osbourne and Denis Leary... I feel much better._** --Colonel Karl L. Schubaltz**   
  
  
  
//Can I kill him now?// That was the exact thought going through his mind listening needlessly to Marcus's pure, unbridled bullshit. His blue bangs hit his handsome face softly, his muscular arms folded across his manly chest and his uniform draped on his back and shoulders. His icy indigo eyes stared into the wall across from him, eavesdropping on Marcus's conversation with Minister Prozen. On the man's shoulder, barely exposed to the world was a tattoo, depicting a Grim Reaper with black angel wings, in calligraphy underneath the reaper, it said: "Nero Angelo". "Is it ready, Marcus?" Prozen reminded him, causing the spy's ears to perk. "Almost, sire." Marcus replied, his lips twisted in a wry smile. "We need a pilot with nerves of steel." "I know who you could use." Prozen smiled with a sinister look in his red eyes. "But getting passed his attack dog is another matter all together." "I'll find a way to distract him, sir." "Good." Prozen's face vanished from the screen, Marcus turned around to face the door when he saw something shift from the door. Drawing his gun, the Elvis-looking man neared the edge of the door and jolted around to face the person spying, only to find a darkened hallway. "Must be my imagination." Marcus sighed with relief, then hostered his gun. Turning to face the opposite hallway, he started to walk away.   
"Major..." He turned around, the very handsome man with long black hair with blue bangs walked closer to the table. His uniform was properly on, his hat properly placed on his head, glasses were hugging his nose softly. "May I speak to you alone, sir? It's urgent." Major Karl Lichen Schubaltz looked around, seeing that the Promenade was filled with Imperial Officers. Sitting his drink down, he followed his comrade-in-arms to the empty pool hall and closed the door. Karl ran his fingers through his silky strands of wheat gold hair then looked at his taller Lieutenant. "What is it, Leon?" "I have reason to believe that your life is in danger." Leon spoke softly, looking around. His indigo eyes narrowed softly and his hands gently gripped Karl's arms. "Why, Karl? Why do you keep Marcus around?" "I.... I don't feel I need to justify myself to you, Leon." Karl snapped almost subtly, his eyes staring into Leon's. "Marcus is a danger to us all... to you.... to me...." "Danger? He hadn't tried to plunge a dagger between my shoulder blades yet." "Karl... he... he's a different kind of danger." Leon's grip on Karl's arms were firm, their gaze were locked in an amorous but also worrysome stare. Karl _WANTED_ to believe Leon, it was written all in his eyes. But he frowned, pulling himself away from Leon's grip. "Leon.... I... I cannot leave Marcus high and dry. He'll get suspicious. He knows people, people deadly enough to make people like me disappear forever." "I won't let that happen, Karl. You know me, you know what I can do." Leon's hands slid back on Karl's arms, he tried to ease Karl's mind. "I can't believe a man like you would be intimidated by a piss-pot like Marcus. A man of talent, dignity, honor, commitment..." "Assassins, Leon. Marcus knows assassins." "And _YOU_ know an Exemplar, Karl. That's one advantage that will always be powerful all-around." "I got to go." Karl pushed away from Leon and ran out of the room. "Karl!" Leon rushed out of the room, trying to find him, but Karl's hat was gone from the table. He ran out of the Promenade and rushed down the hallway, trying to pick up on Karl's psychic waves. Leon turned the corner to see the tall, blonde Major heading toward the officer's quarters at frantic speeds. "Karl!" Stopping but not turning around, Karl looked up, feeling Leon's warming presence behind him. Leon slipped his hands on Karl's shoulders and frowned with his fingers digging into the metal plating of the shoulder pads and the fabric underneath. "Leon, don't get me wrong. I appreciate your warning..." Karl's voice was shaky and disturbed. "I do not fear Marcus, and I do not fear what friends he has. I fear for my brother's life. If Marcus doesn't get to me, he'll definately try and get Thomas." "Don't let him get to you." Was Leon's whole-hearted advice, his voice stern yet compassionate. "You're smarter than that." "I know." "Let me help you on whatever he is plotting to do with you." "I had to face this like a man, Leon... I...." Karl turned around but found the palm of Leon's hand in his beautiful face. He soon fell asleep, falling against Leon's manly body. Soon Leon took on a new form, he looked exactly like Karl. He draped a cloth over Karl's face and carried him to his own bedroom. Putting wards and locks on the doors after tucking him in, Leon looked around, plotting. Soon he put the keys in his pockets and walked down the hallway. "Schubaltz!" Marcus called out to Leon, running down the hallway. "Major, sir! You're needed in the hangar!!" //Pretend to fall.// Marcus had one hand behind his back and a friendly smile on his face. Leon's eyes narrowed but he shook it off and smiled back. "Marcus, what's going on?" "We modified the Dark Horn to your specifications." "Show me." Marcus made sure that Leon was facing away when he plunged a hyperdermic in Leon's shoulder. Leon felt the drugs in his body, although uneffected by their effects, Leon pretended to drop without saying a word. When Marcus thought he was out, two soldiers collected him. "Load him in the prototype zoid but give him the antidote when he's strapped in." "Yessir." Leon opened one eye to see the floor moving under him, his plan worked. //Prototype zoid... feh.// Soon he felt his body shifting and slammed into the cockpit of an odd zoid. He opened his eyes and looked around, the cockpit was most odd. Seeing the design of the zoid, Leon thought to himself. //Now I get it, I don't recognize this design ANYWHERE...// The beast was a T-Rex type. White as the snow with buster claw arms and a nasty set of fangs. The hangar platform pulled away and the doors opened, Leon took the controls and heard the words: Destroy all Targets. Looking around at the comlink controls, the arch-mage licked his lips and up at the screen. //A permenantly-bonded Organoid... fancy for something this big and bulky.// Leon pilotted the zoid out to the training field and went to work, surprised to see that this behemoth had a Particle Beam with some kick. The zoid seemed to take a life of its' own but found that the soul of the beast subdued and buckled under the immense Universal power that was Leon. Leon snarled and tore into the targets letting a wolf's howl as he did. "Incredible. The soul of the Berserk Fury did not take him over." Marcus commented, blinking. "Schubaltz is more capable than we give him credit for." "Sir! The Berserk Fury _likes_ him!" "Amazing!" Marcus clapped his hands together and spoke into the comlink. "Bring 'er in, Schubaltz." //You think I should shed my skin?// Leon looked at the cockpit camera and waved, then reached under his chin. With a hearty yank, he 'ripped' off the Karl guise, revealing who he was. "AETHELWULF!?!?!?!" Leon picked up the communicator and directed the message to Marcus. "Friendly advice, Marcus.... keep your friends close... your enemies.... even closer." "...." Marcus growled, the camera turned off as Leon turned the Berserk Fury around to look at the base. "Thanks for the toy." "IT'S NOT YOURS, DICK-HEAD!!!! AND WHERE IS MAJOR SCHUBALTZ!!!!" "Safe from you, weasel!!!" "..." Leon's eyes narrowed, his hand dangerously close to the Particle Beam firing mechanism. "I know who you are and what you're up to, Marcus." Leon's lips curled in a snarl. "Karl will hesitate to can you, but I will put you in a pine box faster than you can say mierda, _amigo_. Don't forget that..." "You're bluff, Mage-Boy." Marcus snarled, his own hand on a button. Suddenly the roof was missing thanks to a nice particle blast, Marcus realized how close he was from getting evaporated. "....Exemplars don't bluff...." Leon responded, the fires of the 1000 Hells in his amethyst hues. "....step off that road, young man, you have no idea who you're playing with." "And you have no clue who you're fucking with either." Marcus grinned, his hand still on the button. "If it's a war of wits, Marcus... bring some fucking ammo." A knife impaled Marcus's hand to the button, destroying the button and crunching his hand. The man screamed, trying to pull it out. "...." Leon's hands tightened on the controls of the Berserk Fury, the T-Rex zoid let out a grotesque howl.   
  
  


**-Continued-**


	2. Angel of Assassins

  
  
  


**Nero Angelo**  
_Part Two: Angel of Assassins_

  
  
  
  
  
"Sire." Marcus spoke, his hand being bandaged up by a medic. "We have a problem." "What is this problem, Marcus?" Prozen asked, seeing the look in Marcus's eyes. "The test was a success." He began, wincing in pain. "The Berserk Fury likes its' pilot." "What is the problem then?" "The pilot was Aethelwulf." "WHAT!?" Prozen snarled, his red eyes narrowed. "You mean that it was Aethelwulf was behind the helm of the Berkserk Fury prototype!? Where was Schubaltz!?" "...we're still looking, sire."   
  
Karl opened his eyes, sitting up slightly. He could see he was in Leon's room, and that he was well-rested. Looking around, Karl slid closer to the edge of the bed, then slowly approached the door. He heard voices on the other side, including Marcus's. "Aethelwulf probably stashed Major Schubaltz in his room, unlock the door." "We are, sir!" Karl froze in his tracks, a voice in his head told him that something was really wrong. Looking about, Karl looked for a place to hide, then looked up.   
The door flew open and five soldiers ran un with fully loaded semi-automatic machine guns. They combed the room looking for Karl, unable the find him. They didn't know Karl was in the ventilation shaft above them. Karl sat completely still, he heard Marcus muttering something. "I cannot believe Aethelwulf knew about the experiment, he must have been listening into the Minister and I's private conversation." //E-experiment....? So Leon....// The Epiphany hit Karl swiftly, it almost made his head whiplash. //Leon was telling the truth.// "He isn't here, sir." A soldier looked at Marcus. "Bah. Let's look elsewhere I guess." They left the room, closing the door behind them. Karl slid the grate off and jumped down, almost tripping. He wiped the dust off his uniform and went for the door when he heard the unforgettable beep of someone imputting the opening sequence code. Freezing in his tracks, Karl let out a small gulp before it open. However the person who opened the door was a very friendly and handsome face. Leon stood there with a sack of groceries in his arm, looking surprised to see his room trashed. "Damn, Major. If you wanted out, you could have called me." "Marcus's men were looking for me. What did you do?" Karl demanded, but in a soft tone. Leon turned on the light and closed the door, he set the groceries on the table and sighed. "They were going to put you behind the wheel of a very powerful, very dangerous zoid... a prototype zoid called a Berserk Fury. They wanted a pilot with nerves of steel and an iron will, they wanted you. I had a gut feeling that with this thing that even you would crack under its' bloodthirsty pressure... so I wanted to protect you and thus I assumed your form and took the experiment onto myself." "L-leon.. I...." Karl was speechless, his gaze from Leon's face shifted. His hands slipped on the back of the chair, looking a little ashamed of putting Leon through this. "No need to be upset, sir." Leon smiled, his body close to Karl's. His fingers under Karl's chin, delicately and tenderly lifting his chin. "Your safety and well-being is my first priority." "I can handle myself, Leon... but I...." Karl's words were interupted with a soft kiss, his sparkling green eyes widened in surprise. Soon the kiss became full, Karl's eyelids fluttered shut, his arms snaked around Leon's body. "I am concerned for you." Leon whispered softly, his lips close to Karl's. "I am concerned for you because I love you." For the first time in his life, Karl didn't feel right responding to that with protocol and procedure. His hands caressed the ebony fabric of Leon's uniform, his eyes gazing longing into Leon's pools of indigo. Finally a response found its' way out of Karl's pouty lips. "I love you too, Leon." Smiling brightly, the mysterious Lieutenant kissed the blonde Imperial cutey again. The moment was sweet at best.   
  


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"This is the Berserk Fury?" Karl asked as Leon turned on the lights to the hangar. "Yes, ain't she a beaut..." The blue and black haired lieutenant smiled as he neared the white T-Rex type zoid. "It's equipped with a charged particle beam, similiar to the one Raven uses in the Geno Saurer... but the way they build this thing.... the Berserk Fury would kick the Geno Saurer's ass anyday." "It worries me, Leon." Karl looked up at the beast, then looked at his right-hand man. "The Empire is building big, bad tools of mass destruction when we should be working to bring peace to the world." "Maybe Prozen's angle is _peace through superior firepower_... at any rate, they weren't sure if they were going to build another like it because they were unsure of the effects on a normal person. So they sent for someone with 'nerves of steel and iron will'. I managed to get a hold of the notes, it seems that there were other tests on other pilots. They were 'consumed' by the Berserk Fury's morbid grip and were usually placed in mental wards afterward because they were drained of their mental will and went insane. THe Berserk Fury is a beast of blood, Karl. A monster who feeds on the fallen and the slain, to satisfy its' own desire for death. And I feel I am better suited on controlling the fiend because I'm the only one here to have tamed it and got it to like a pilot controlling it." "By all means." Karl's hands slipped on Leon's shoulders, giving him a reassuring smile. "I always knew you could tame demons, and I feel you too are better suited for this zoid. I won't try and force you to not give it up. If you did... the Empire... Prozen will try to run more tests on unsuspecting and unwilling participants... I don't want that." "Thank-you for having faith in me." Leon smiled, taking one of Karl's hands in his and caressing it lovingly. "There you are!" The lights switched on and soldiers flooded the hangar, they were soon joined by Marcus. Marcus had a gun in his hand, aiming it at Karl and Leon with a smile on his face. "I knew I'd corner you, Aethelwulf." Marcus stepped out of the crowd of soldiers. "Bite me, Marcus." Leon had Karl in one arm, glaring into Marcus's cold black eyes. "I cannot let you take the Berserk Fury, Marcus!" Karl stood his ground, getting out of Leon's protective grasp. "It belongs to Leon now!" "You're wrong, Schubaltz! It belongs to Prozen therefore it belongs to the Empire!" Marcus disputed, his hand on the gun. "Why would anyone want to build such a deadly weapon to begin with? We don't need it!" "You see, Schubaltz... if we don't act soon, the Republic will send its' own personal assassin to kill Prozen. We have to stop him in his tracks and because he pilots a specially modified Stealth Liger, we won't be able to track him and he'll enter our glorious nation unobserved!! Then he'll kill Prozen just like that..." "So he's doing humanity a bit of good." Leon came back quickly to Marcus's explanation. "But this... this is overkill, Marcus! Nothing short of a Death Saurer will stop this thing!!" "Death Saurer?" Marcus aimed his gun at Leon, snarling. "How did you know about the Death Saurer?" "D-death Saurer!?" Karl froze in his tracks, then turned toward Leon. "Is there something you're not telling me?" Leon pulled Karl into his arms and stared into Marcus's eyes. There wasn't a word said, but suddenly the Berserk Fury came to life with a blood-curdling roar. The soldiers looked up shakily and ran from the zoid as it began to chase them. Marcus was one of those poor fools who ran for safety, Leon scooped Karl up and jumped for the cockpit of the Berserk Fury. Strapping himself in, the lieutenant gave the BF its' command to blast the door, it responded by giving a grotesque growl, then tromped to the hangar door. "Stop them! They're getting away!" The zoids behind them were coming to life, Leon frowned and looked at the view screens. The unfinished prototypes and various untyped zoids surrounded them, Leon grinned and spoke to the Berserk Fury itself. "Belle... lunch time. Have at 'em, girl." The Berserk Fury roared, then lunged at the nearest zoid, ripping it to pieces with its' claws and claw arms. The fight ensued, blood and zoid part flew everywhere, Karl watched in amazement as the Berserk Fury bowed to Leon's every wish. Finally it tore into the hangar door and made its' escape. "So the Republic has their own Raven." Leon looked at the road ahead, Karl in his lap. "I never knew they had trained an assassin like Prozen trained Raven until now. A Stealth Liger... I heard of those. They're exceptionally modified Blade Ligers, used by a certain assassin sect... I didn't know that this sect existed until Marcus mentioned the Stealth Liger..." "You heard of them?" "Yes, they're ninja who tore from their old ways and decided to go with the rest of Zi into the Zoid Era." Karl frowned, looking up at Leon. "But I didn't think that the Republic had access to these assassins, their bargaining prices are usually too costly for anyone to handle..." "Plus the Republic reminds me too much of the United States on a planet called Earth. They want to be the heroes of Zi, they're doing it but being good guys. It doesn't seem like the Republic to hire to assassins... unless... they're desperate..."   
  
A mini-submarine emerged in an underwater cavern and docked in the mini-dock. The front of the submarine opened up but nothing seemed to emerge. But in the mud, four Liger footprints formed, then followed by a trail of them. The Stealth Liger had landed in Imperial space without detection. The figure in the Stealth Liger looked at the picture of Minister Prozen, his silver fox-like eyes narrowed under cybershades and continued piloting the Stealth Liger toward the entrance of the cavern... ...the assassin had finally arrived.   
  
  


**-Continued-**


End file.
